And that was it. Convention season is in full swing, so attendance is riding a bit low right now.

The adventure started in the small town of Tonila. Mirrabillis, Makao, and Theravald were sitting at their table in the Ginger Beer House, a local tavern, when an enraged local accosted them, accusing them of poor morals, perfidy, and a number of other accusations aimed at their general lifestyle. Mirrabillis and Theravald used a combination of diplomacy and bluff (see: gentle words and bod-faced lies) to talk the angered townsperson down, after which he stalked off grumbling into the night. The owners of the Ginger Beer House, grateful for the party's temperance and civility in talking the situation down, comped their drinks for the night and let them sleep the evening's revelry off in the loft.

The next day, the rowdy townsman repentantly returned to apologize to the party and explain the previous evening's transgressions. The man explained to the group that his name is Joseph, the local rat-catcher, and his vitriolic ranting against the party was inspired not by bigotry or anger at anything the group themselves had done, but instead was a result of his grief, caused by another pair of adventurers. The group learns that Joseph had two teenage daughters who decided to become adventurers when a pair of rapscallions stopped in the town, telling stories of a temple of evil to the south. The girls and the miscreant duo all left town, but when the two wanderers came back to town without his girls and no sufficient explanation for their disappearance, Joseph and the other townsmen ran them right back out. Now, Joseph is steeped in melancholy worrying about his girls, but he hopes the heroes can go to this "temple of evil" and find some evidence of their true fate.

Struck by Joseph's saddening story and heart-struck by his simple humility, the party agreed to look for some sign of the girls, and bring them back home if it was possible. Gathering up their things, the party headed out towards the south where the duo who had first tempted the girls fled. It was nearing midday of the party's journey when they were violently accosted by a trio of axebeaks whose nesting area they'd inadvertently wandered through. As the vicious birds threatened to peck them to pieces, the group realized they had little choice but to fight. Makao acted first, and he cast a druidic spell that made the plants and grasses writhe and grasp about, entangling two of the three axebeaks. The largest and angriest of the birds was undeterred though, and hurtled forward, tearing into Makao with fearsome strength. Theravald charged to Makao's rescue slashing at the hook-beaked raptor with his scimitar. Mirrabillis moved around behind her larger companions, and fired a few feathered shafts into the fierce avian fighting her friends.

While the other two axebeaks struggled to free themselves from their viridian bonds, the heroes made short work of the unencumbered one, with Thereavald ultimately reducing it to such much lunch meat with a mighty scimitar blow that severed its head from its body. Unfortunately, it had bought the time its flock-mates needed to finally reach the group, and a bloody battle ensued that nearly felled both Theravald and Mirrabillis. Fortunately, Makao's druidic power allowed him to heal his friend's wounds, and the group arrived at the Hungry Ghost inn that evening in relatively good health, and with a trio of axebeak eggs they planned to hatch and raise for mounts.

The Hungry Ghost inn is supposedly named for the voracious wraiths who haunt the nearby moorlands, kept safely at bay by the power of Angus the innkeeper's bagpipes, whose mournful skirl has mystical power. Angus is also said to have the second sight, though whether or not that was true one thing the party could easily believe was the undead's reluctance to come within hearing distance of Angus' bagpipes. As the party settle in for their evening meal, chatter with the staff and other patrons revealed a key bit of information they were looking for: an elven female with a raven familiar and a wild-looking half-orc had stayed just a few nights prior, and were heard to talk about "holing up at the farm". Eager to follow the lead while it was fresh but understanding their limits, the party bedded down at the Hungry Ghost for a few hours sleep and were back on the road before dawn.

The party followed the road west, keeping an eye out for an old "haunted" farm that one helpful waitress had suggested might be the place they were looking for. As they crept towards the decrepit gate surrounding the farm, the keen-eyed Makao spotted a raven resting in the branches of an old oak just inside the gate. Worried it would alert its master, Mirrabillis fired an arrow that pierced the raven's eye and dropped it instantly dead. Unfortunately, their attempt at stealth backfired as an anguished scream echoed from inside the gate.

They dashed through just in time to see the doors of an old barn crash shut, followed by the dull thump of a locking bar being dropped into place. As the party tried to decide what to do, mind-numbing spells and razor-tipped yardshafts began raining down on them form the barn loft. Mirrabillis attempted to sneak forward and dislodge the locking bar on the barn while Makao and Theravald hurled slingstones at the loft in an attempt to cover her. Unfortunately, Theravald was knocked senseless by a hard-packed orb of magically conjured snow, and the half-orc barbarian who'd been peppering them with arrows spotted Mirrabillis below and leaped down atop her, casting his bow aside as he grew wicked claws and fierce fangs. Makao, seeing Mirrabillis' distress, rushed forward to aid her, but as the two half-orcs clashed, it was the enemy who proved the stronger. Theravald fell in the same moment as he succumbed to the barrage of spells that the witch had hurled down on him. Mirrabillis was now the last one standing, and seeing her friends laid low, she summoned up a befuddling aura of darkness, hoping its mind-clouding power would allow her a chance to escape with her friends. Unfortunately, the uncontrollable rage burning through the enemy barbarian's veins seared any fog from his mind and he remained undeterred, ultimately tearing the life from Mirrabillis with his clawed hands and drinking her blood as he bit out her throat.

*****

"What?!?!?!" You say, "They didn't even make it past the second encounter?!?!?"
Well..... yeah. And I was the most disappointed one in the room. You have to understand, this adventure is really cool. The group would have ended up finding out that the temple of evil is really a trap the two "adventurers" use to lure young people away from the safety of the towns so they can sell them to the town of Broken Bridge, where the aristocracy participates in an annual ritual where they dance eerily with a coven of wraiths and sacrifice young virgins to join the coven and serve the wraith king.

Mastermind of both this sinister pact and the trap to capture its victims is a powerful oracle who believes that his alliance with the wraiths is his chance at immortality. You think I wanted to miss out on all that? But, I also owe it to my players to let the dice fall where they may. It turns out, most people I play with detest being saved by deus ex machina as much as they detest being killed/captured/undermined by it. You need to pick up both Dance Macabre and Path of Shadows though; the Nightblade is such a cool rogue replacement, with awesome shadow powers, and Dance Macabre is just an amazing example of a writer really putting himself into his work.

Dance Macabre features extensive art, map handouts, convenient charts, everything you want in an adventure, and it acknowledges that the guy behind the screen deserves a few inside jokes as well. The book is peppered with little superscript subnotes that let you in on the inside jokes of the areas you pass through, the people you interact with, and the things you face. On more than one occasion I had to control my snickering at the table when I read a description of the Hungry Ghost inn, for example, and reread the humorous little notes about Angus and the superstitious lore of the area. I'm someone who tends to GM because no one else will; I wish I could spend more time just being a player. But this adventure was just as fun for me as the GM as getting to play a character normally is, if not moreso.

Expect to see more articles including the Nightblade at different levels, and definitely more of Four Dollar Dungeon's awesome adventures!

The next article will be for 6/4 and 6/11, as a party of Dreamscarred characters using Bloodforge races and Akashic Mystery classes take on Legendary Games' "Rise of the Drow"!